Average U.S. Math Literacy PISA Scores Drop 18 Points Since 2009

Looking at the PISA 2015 results that were released by the National Center for Educational Statistics it shows that there has been a drop in average math literacy scores among 15-year-olds since 2009 (pre-Common Core).

They write:

The U.S. average score in mathematics literacy in 2015 was 12 score points lower than the average score in 2012 and 18 score points lower than the average in 2009, but was not measurably different than the average mathematics literacy scores in 2003 and 2006.

I should add than in 2015 only 6 percent of 15-year-olds in the U.S. taking the test scored proficiency level 5 or above with 29 percent at level 2 or below.

Massachusetts’ average score was 30 points higher than the U.S. average – 500 to 470. If Massachusetts were ranked as a separate nation it would have been in 20th place compared to the U.S. that is tied for 40th place with Israel. Massachusetts saw a 12 point drop since 2012.

U.S. PISA scores in science literacy and reading literacy were not measurably different than in previous years. It should be noted that Massachusetts scored 33 points higher in science – 529 to 496 and 30 points higher in reading – 527 to 497. Comparing Massachusetts to other nations would be tied for 6th place in Science and 2nd place in reading.

Before Common Core Massachusetts PISA scores were among the best in the world as well. Considering how well they scored in science it is odd they are dumbing their science standards down. Their performance in reading has not been diminished due to Common Core, but nationally we have not seen improvement.

So, these very expensive and very disrupting Common Core reforms … which were designed to cure poor PISA performances … have resulted in extra poor PISA performances?

Oh, man! This is not good.

“The U.S. average score in mathematics literacy in 2015 was 12 score points lower than …in 2012 and 18 score points lower than the average in 2009, but was not measurably different than the average mathematics literacy scores in 2003 and 2006.”

You mean the cure was worse than the complaint?!?!? That’s a pretty crappy reform, right?

Yes. Yes, it is.

Didn’t these Common Core zealots use these very same PISA scores to indict the pubic schools as outright failures?

Yes. Yes, they did.

This is very rich stuff. It’s hard not to smile … I mean … smirk.

This reform is beginning to have the stinky whiff of malpractice. You know, that sinking feeling when supposed experts prove that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing. So they botch stuff. Badly.

Here’s something we might consider.

Maybe it’s not really a reform at all.

Maybe it’s a colossal scheme unloaded on us by a few self-anointed know-it-alls who don’t seem to know much of anything. Especially about education.

Maybe … maybe we’ve been had.

I think some very bright people have mentioned that. For several years. In several ways. To several important people. To no avail.

Exactly what I would have expected and exactly what I have been trying to convince family and friends of, but no one seems to understand my concerns. What will it take??? This is why I make a request of my husband each year – I need money set aside to buy homeschooling materials, so that I can tutor my own kids in the evenings and on weekends and teach them the stuff they ACTUALLY need to know, but the schools won’t teach. Not really fair to me OR our kids, but I do what I have to do as best as I can.

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Campbell’s Law

"The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."